For My Mother, Part 2
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2010
1
102
159
Trip End
Nov 29, 2011
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Saturday, June 25, 2011
So what did I do here? Well, the first thing, after checking into somewhere to pitch my tent, was to go and buy a new hoody – Southern Africa get cold at this time of year! I could excuse South Africa, but getting back inside the tropics again I simply assumed that such clothing would be unnecessary. But, I simply got tired of being cold and making do with just one, not very warm, jumper. My new one has furry insides (not real fur) – mmm, toasty.
On my second day here, I went to the nearby ruins at Khami. The visible remains were left by a civilisation which flourished between the 15th and 19th centuries (although the site has been inhabited for around 10,000 years apparently). Much restoration work has been done here in recent years and these efforts show just how skilled this society was. What a great setting as well – endless, endless views across the colourful landscape.
In case any of you are wondering what an alive and then dead dear-like animal is doing in the middle of my pictures of this visit to Khami Ruins is all about, then the story is simple. My guide to the ruins chased it down and slaughtered it to take home for his family. Such is life.
On my third day here, I took an early morning combi (the Zimbabwean name – every country has a different name for one – for the little mini-buses that ferry people around all over Africa) to Plumtree. A short hitch-hike later, I was in Teckwani High School. Around ten days ago I had visited Waddilove School near the town of Marondera. Back in the days before I was a twinkle in anyone’s eyes, my young mother worked at both schools – the memory of which always brings a smile to her face.
I, then, went to each of these schools to see for myself the settings which have left such an indelibly fond mark on my mother, and to hopefully meet someone who remembers her. In neither school did I find anyone who had been around long enough to overlap their time with my mother’s, but in both schools I received a welcome which was warm, generous and genuine. I spent half a day in Teckwani, almost all of it in the presence of the Deputy Head who was insistent that my being there was a pleasure for him, just as much as it was for me. We talked about the past horrors that the school once witnessed, the current state of the country and its seemingly universally hated president (whom no one mentions by name), and what developments are planned for the school. I was given a tour of the school, met some teachers, met some students, met the kitchen staff, visited the tuckshop and shared lunch in my host’s office. At the end of my visit, my host escorted me to the gate of the school where we shook hands before going our separate ways. Mum, they would be genuinely delighted to have you visit again!!
Comments
The train journeys we have planned in Zambia will be longer still - in one direction at least.
Glad you managed to visit both places - we'll have to compare photos to gauge the changes in 40 years! No wonder there's no-one around who remembers me.
Actually, I got onto the blog site for Thekwane, and saw photos of computers being handed over to the school by a representative of the Alumni Association - one Joshua Nyoni whom I knew as a student and who came over to the UK to study at University of East Anglia. I met him again then. He's probably much the same age as I am, as he was in the VIth form when I was there in 1971.
You've given me a good excuse to go down memory lane, Luke. Nice.
PS I never visited the Khami ruins, though I did the Great Zimbabwe ruins.